Penny Arcade's CGW Interview

1up is running an interview with the Penny Arcade guys, originally done for Computer Gaming World. They talk comics, the industry, Harlan Ellison, and (of course) games. From the article: "Jerry Holkins: My favorite quote comes from this one strip where I say 'Fetch it, and gaze upon your ruined world.' I'm not sure that anybody else really pays attention to that particular comic strip, but it's called 'They Hailed From Canadon,' and it's just this...it starts out in this weird, Penny Arcade way, but it has these spacefaring dogmen that for some reason really do it for me. I don't know why."

Re:Disappointing

[SatanicPuppy]

Meh. He's a jackass, and he decided, in public, to try and get rough with two people who make their living by being smartasses. He got what he had coming.

Personally, I can't stand him. If he was half as good as he thinks he is, that attitude would be one thing, but as it stands it's pretty sorry.

Re:A few words about Harlan...

[Rallion]

Did you read what happened, though? Harlan started it, not them. Asking somebody if they even went to high school (with the obvious intent of implying that the other person is a moron) up on stage in front of a ton of people isn't exactly what I'd call 'nice.'

Re:No Ellison Schtick

[fm6]

I've known a lot of writers, and you can't judge the writing by the person. Some of the greatest jerks are very good writers, many very nice people are terrible writers.

Perfectly true, and not just for writers. And indeed, Ellison is basically a good writer. Unfortunately he abuses melodrama in his writing much as he does in real life. That spoils a lot of fiction that could have been very good.

Re:I don't get it

[PFI_Optix]

PA's humor is one of those things that carries quite a few prerequisites.

You have to be a fairly avid and experienced gamer to catch even half the allusions they make. You have to like sarcastic and satirical humor, as well as be able to understand and appreciate more juvenile humor (like the frequency of the word "wang" in their strips for a while).

There are a lot of PA strips that I don't laugh at, even when I see the humor. A few of them I just shrug my shoulders and move on to something more interesting. But they get out at least a couple a month that really make me laugh, and that's enough for me to spend a few minutes reading.

Re:Disappointing

[B'Trey]

No, I think they're quite aware that Harlan's angry public persona is nothing of the sort - it's his personality, not a persona. Harlan is (or was, in his day) a great and innovative author and editor. He deserves all of the props he receives for his writing. His also a flamming ahole, and he deserves all of the abuse he gets for his arrogance and his complete lack of common decency. I can respect and revere his work while still holding him in utter contempt as a person.

And now you know...

[PhoenixOne]

"Harlan is a lot like me (and many other geeks), in that we can often be opinionated, blunt assholes who insist their current view is the right one, and will defend it with passion and vigor."

And now you know why you don't get invited out to parties.

I have a lot of "geek friends" and, while I can normally deal with this, I can tell you that you're not turning off "ordinary folks" because *their* insecure. You're just coming off as an asshole.

It's fine to have beliefs but, right or wrong, you're going to annoy the hell out of 98% of the people out there if you feel the need to get all vigorous about jamming it down their throats. If you get off on this, fine. But don't think these "ordinary folks" are the ones with the defects...

(Sorry for being blunt with my belief system, but I've seen too many unhappy "smart people" with this problem.)